This invention relates to a light source for an optical fiber, and to a novel connection between the light source and the optical fiber. This proposed light source comprises a fiber optic illumination lamp having novel miniaturization capabilities. The improved lamp is an arc lamp having a high brightness output, with relatively low power consumption. The lamp may be used as a steady state light source or as a pulsed light source for transmission of information through the associated optical fiber(s). An important feature of the invention is that the arc lamp (gas discharge lamp) has a direct intimate connection with an end surface of at least one optical fiber. The gas discharge lamp includes a dielectric housing having a straight (linear) capillary passage that is charged with a radiation-producing gas. Electrodes communicate with the opposite ends of the capillary passage to produce an electron flow along the passage parallel to the passage axis. The electrons collide with the gas atoms to excite said atoms into the radiant state.
An end section of the optical fiber extends into one end of the capillary passage so that the end surface of the fiber is in direct optical communication with and in close proximity to the radiant gas. The fiber has a line-of-sight along the length of the capillary passage such that all photon energy in the passage is automatically made available to the optical fiber.
Since the optical fiber extends into the passage that contains the radiant gas, there is an automatic alignment of the fiber relative to the light source. The fiber has precise alignment with the source in an axial sense with minimal lateral misalignment of the two axes, and also in a transverse plane measured along the end surface of the fiber. The fiber end surface automatically extends at an optimum angle for acceptance of rays impinging thereon.